this is where food justice with a plant-based/decolonial diet perspective meet hip hop and where we explore the intersections of other animal/human/earth liberation. hip hop is rooted in resistance and rich with experience in fighting for social justice. veganism is about practicing compassion and is motivated by living cruelty-free for the sake of other animals. the fusion of veganism and hip hop is designed to promote holistic activism..

Friday, May 27, 2011

s-1 "the warriors song"

INTERVIEWwith S-1
Taken from the POP N01, the Path of Perfection Newsletter

S-1 IS A MUSLIM ANTI-CAPITALIST VEGAN STRAIGHTEDGE, ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF DUELO, THE PORTUGUESE MILITANT VEGAN HIPHOP DUO.
HE HAS NOW STARTED HIS SOLO HIP-HOP PROJECT COMPLETELY DIY, WHERE HE COMBINES POLITICS WITH ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE.
HERE IT IS A SHORT SET OF QUESTIONS SO THAT WE CAN GET TO KNOW WHAT HE'S ALL ABOUT.

Being an anti-capitalist vegan straightedge, how do you conciliate the practice of Islam with your lifestyle and what relevance does it have in it? Do you feel that being a muslim strengthens in any way your ideology?
I will start with the last part of your question by saying that being muslim is to refill that part of your own self which has been emptied during your growth in modern societies. Being muslim means that you recognize that there's One Creator and that your life is, as all other things in the planet are, naturally submitted to Him. Therefore when you're born, you are in this original state. It is not until you're able to assimilate the influence of the corporate controlled modern culture that you grow out of this natural state.
It's bad for the modern world that people remain closely attached to their natural ways and live accordingly, because knowing their purpose of life, people will never come to that point in their lives where they end up giving in to materialistic consumption to fill that void. This is why atheism has become so popular in capitalist societies, people are stripped out of the meaning of their lives to become craving clients for the products that the materialistic modern world, ruled by corporations, has to sell.
So being a muslim strengthens me in a great way as human being, with a natural purpose, and reconnects me with my natural self, the way I was supposed to be in the first place and that obviously strengthens my ideology as well, alhamdulillah.

You do all your lyrics, beats, recordings, production, etc, bringing back the true DIY to the music scene, where today it is nowhere to find. Why DIY? Is it just a matter of being more practical and being able to control all the steps of the process or is it a rather political stance that you're also taking with this project?
Well, after so many years involved in the political punk/hardcore scene I think it came to a point where it's a natural thing, I mean, before you question yourself "who can do the job", you think "can I do it?". That mindset really empowers you so much.
So I guess it's more practical because you only rely on yourself to get things done the way you want, even though obviously if you're learning from scratch how to work with really complex software and stuff. the quality of the final product is not amazing, but that's something that has very little significance to me, since I'm not after a musician career and all I want is to spread a message. On the other hand it is a political stance most definitely, because by doing yourself you're setting your own alternative to commerce, to the whole selling-buying concept, you're just being independent from capitalism or any other economic ruling system. Not paying is really not taking part.

Tell us about your lyrics. How does the whole process of writing happens, and what stuff inspire you the most to write about? Why do you write mostly in portuguese?
I've always been a lot into writing, although i'm not by any means a writer, but again, that's not the most important here. Everyone should be voicing their opinions despite their writing skills, doing zines, panphlets, and whatever, that's what matters really.
I still write a lot nowadays, it's a good way of testing your knowledge and arguing skills. And i think a lot in what i'm writing about, so writing really turns into a productive process of thinking and arguing just with myself, where i can test how good i know certain things and how right am i really in taking certain stands. Most of the times i will know after i do a text, if i need to read more or not about the issue, but surely if i don't i still manage to shape better my ideas and arguments regarding that particular issue.
My lyrics come from a very similar kind of process, i'm very strict and careful when it comes to writing lyrics. They must be as complete and inspiring as any good rebel manifesto and deliver the message also just as good. I think it's a great privilege that people actually listen to what you're saying, so it should be taken really serious.
I'm inspired by everything in life, good and bad. I tend to focus a lot more on political issues for obvious reasons, but i explore more personal stuff now. For some time i used only a strictly political perspective, i kept out my religion, my views on relationships, social behaviors, etc, but now i'm putting it all in, to be complete. I am a muslim anti-capitalist vegan drug free person and i'm merging it all in my lyrics as i do in my life.
For this project, most lyrics are in portuguese because i'm trying to make it easier for my people, focusing primarily on the people around me and talk to them, and that could only come fully by using our native spoken tongue. Still i do, and will continue on doing some lyrics in english inshallah, as long as it's a valid option, not just because.

Although this is a hip-hop project, it grew from the hardcore vegan straightedge scene. Is that your target audience with this project? Do you have any specific message to the hardcore scene?
It's true, it grew from the political vegan straightedge hardcore scene and is deeply influenced and inspired by it in an overall perspective of how to use music to spread a message, which I think is the most important aspect of all in it.
This project is meant to reach as many people as possible. My goal is always the same, get people to think and ultimately change their own lives so that social change can happen. So yes, my target audience is also the hardcore scene even though political and social awareness are matters almost absent these days in the scene. But i just think we must give back, despite how much it has changed or how disappointed with it we are, it has influenced so many people's lives and it's up to us to fuel it with positive values and ideas, so that people inside feel affected by it in the most positive way.